The Powerpuff Girls Movie
The Powerpuff Girls Movie is a 2002 American animated superhero comedy-drama film based on the Cartoon Network animated television series The Powerpuff Girls. Pictures and Cartoon Network, the film debuted in the United States on July 3, 2002. It was a prequel of the series, telling the origin story of how the Powerpuff Girls were created and how they came to be the defenders of Townsville. Plot Professor Utonium hopes to create the perfect little girl using a mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice to improve Townsville, a city plagued by villains. He is shoved by his laboratory assistant, a destructive chimpanzee named Jojo, causing him to accidentally break a container of a mysterious substance called Chemical X that spills into the mixture and explodes in Jojo's face. The Professor finds that the experiment was a success, having produced three little girls whom he names Blossom (the smart and mature one), Bubbles (the cute and bubbly one) and Buttercup (the rough and tough one). These girls also have superpowers as a result of the additional Chemical X, though they all immediately grow to love each other as a family. During their first day of school, the girls learn about the game tag and begin to play amongst themselves, which quickly grows destructive when they begin using their powers. They take their game downtown, accidentally causing massive damage to the city until the Professor calms them down and cautions them against using their powers outside. As a result of the destruction, the citizens of Townsville treat the girls as outcasts while the Professor is arrested for creating the girls. The despondent girls try to make their way home on foot, but become lost in an alleyway and were ambushed by the Gangreen Gang. They are rescued by Jojo whose brain has mutated and given him superintelligence as a result of the Chemical X explosion. Planning control of the city, Jojo gains the girls' empathy by saying he is also hated for his powers and manipulates them into helping him build a laboratory and machine over a volcano in the middle of town that he claims will gain them the affections of the city. He also has them steal a batch of Chemical X from the Professor's lab. As a reward, Jojo takes the girls to the local zoo and secretly implants small transportation devices on all the primates there. That night, Jojo transports all the primates from the zoo into his volcano lair and uses his new machine to inject them with Chemical X, turning them into evil mutant primates like himself. The next morning, after the Professor is released from prison, the girls show him all the "good" they have done, only to discover the city being attacked by the monkeys. Jojo, renaming himself Mojo Jojo, publicly denounces the girls as his assistants, turning everyone, including the distraught Professor, against them. The girls blast off into space, dejected. Mojo Jojo announces his intentions to rule the planet, but becomes frustrated when his minions, now as intelligent and evil as he is, begin concocting their own plans to terrorize the people of Townsville. Overhearing this turmoil from space, the girls return to Earth and use their powers to defeat the primates and rescue the citizens. In response, Mojo injects himself with Chemical X and grows into a giant monster, but the girls defeat him after an intense battle by pushing him off a skyscraper. Hoping to help the girls, the Professor develops an antidote for Chemical X which Mojo Jojo lands on, shrinking him down to his original size. The girls consider using the Antidote X to erase their powers, thinking they would be accepted as normal little girls, but the citizens of Townsville protest, apologizing for misjudging the girls and thanking them for their heroic deeds. At the insistence of the Mayor, the girls agree to use their powers to defend Townsville and become the city's beloved crime-fighting team of superheroes: the Powerpuff Girls. Cast *Emma Roberts as Blossom *Kyla Pratt as Bubbles *Raven-Symoné as Buttercup *Roger L. Jackson: Mojo Jojo *Tom Kenny: Narrator, The Mayor, Snake, Li'l Arturo, Mitch, Cha-Ching Cha-Ching *Jennifer Hale: Ms. Keane *Jennifer Martin: Ms. Sara Bellum *Tom Kane: Professor Utonium *Jeff Bennett: Ace, Big Billy, Grubber *Rob Paulsen: Hota Wata, Killa Drilla *Kevin Michael Richardson: Rocko Socko, Ojo Tango *Frank Welker: Various Monkeys Videos Design The film featured substantially revised designs for many of the TV show's characters, with a much more angular look. Many of these changes were incorporated in the future seasons of the show, such as the Professor's new eyes and Ace's sharper teeth. Also, at the end of the movie before the closing credits begin, the end graphic with the pulsating and concentric hearts and the girls appearing in an explosion of stars switched to the slightly more elaborate version (this will be like that in the future seasons of the show. Also, the ending is much longer than usual and the "THE END" sign does not appear at all in this movie as the practice for using these two words at the end of a movie had pretty much ceased by now). Reception Reviews of the film were generally positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 64% from selected critics with an average reviewer score of 6.2/10 and an even better rating of 70% from top critics on the site also certifying the film as "Fresh" with an average reviewer score of 6.2/10. On Metacritic, the film currently has a rating of 65 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews." Bob Longino of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave the movie perhaps the highest praise of all, saying "The intricate drawings emanate 1950s futuristic pizazz like a David Hockney scenescape. The inspired script is both sinfully cynical and aw-shucks sweet." He also called it "one of the few American creations that is both gleeful pop culture and exquisite high art." However, it was also reviewed negatively by some for its violence, which many felt was too extreme and highly inappropriate for a family-oriented film. The most negative review was from the show "Ebert and Roeper." Roger Ebert said the film was upsetting to watch after the 9/11 attacks, and Richard Roeper called it a freaky and annoying little film. Despite the critical success, however, the film flopped at the box office due to poor marketing and publicity, and the fact that the show lost much of its popularity. It was released straight-to-VHS and DVD in some countries. Shortly after its poor commercial performance, a Samurai Jack movie that had been in development was canceled. The Powerpuff Girls Movie grossed only $11 million against the same amount of its budget. It ended together with foreign box office with $16 million, making it unsuccessful. Since then, the TV series lost much of its popularity. Production notes During production, The Hollywood Reporter reported that voice actresses Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong and E.G. Daily had gone on strike, protesting that they weren't being paid enough to star in a feature. The studio publicly mulled replacing them with new actresses, but eventually a deal was reached and the trio returned to voice the Powerpuff Girls again. Rating This film was rated PG by the MPAA for non-stop frantic animated action. Trivia *Fuzzy Lumpkins makes a cameo appearance at the beginning, robbing the grocery store. And at the end, he's seen in jail with Mojo Jojo, and The Gangreen Gang. Also, he does not speak whatsoever. *The Powerpuff Girls Movie was the first Hollywood film to be based on a Cartoon Network property. *The drawing Bubbles drew of herself, her sisters and the Professor and the wanted poster of the four are pieces of fan art used in it. They were winners of a drawing contest Cartoon Network held. *At the end of this movie, during the newly introduced 2002-2005 animated episode outro, the Narrator doesn't say the "once again" part of "The day is saved" narration because the movie explains how the girls were first created. The Narrator says "for the very first time" instead. *Townsville gets the most destruction then any other time in the series. *Bubbles was only the Powerpuff Girl glaring at the camera. *According to a deleted scene on the movie DVD, the timeline of the movie was supposed to be two weeks, with the time-span of the girls helping Jojo build the volcano-top lair taking place over four nights instead of one. *This movie seems to contradict the flashback scenes in "Mr. Mojo's Rising", however the beginning of the movie could possibly reflect how much Jojo was being ignored and forgotten, given that we never see him. Category:Cast and Crew from The Powerpuff Girls Shows and Movies Category:The Powerpuff Girls TV Shows and Movies Category:Superheroes Movies Category:TV Shows